The Sunday Mail
Mariam Tose Majome
This is a continuation of last week’s article outlining the functions of the Zimbabwe Media Commission and the critical role the media plays in society
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The second of the 10 functions of the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) is to promote and enforce good practices and ethics in the media.
ZMC is not constituted to control or dictate what the media industry should do.
There is no legal framework for co-regulation in Zimbabwe, so the commission is the only regulator of the media industry in the country.
Co-regulation is where both Government and the media fraternity work together to regulate the media industry. Nevertheless, media practitioners in Zimbabwe are free to form their own professional associations, where they can self-regulate their professional conduct and encourage each other to uphold media ethics.
One of many such associations is the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ).
If consumers of media products have been injured in some way by the conduct of media practitioners, they can approach the VMCZ for redress of their complaints.
Equally, they can also approach the ZMC.
The Zimbabwe Media Commission Act empowers the ZMC to receive and investigate complaints from the public or even launch its own investigations into the conduct of media practitioners and take appropriate measures as lawfully provided for.
Media ethics are about good morals, truthfulness, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness and self-restraint by media practitioners.
Practitioners are bound by ethics and should be held to high standards by the public. Professionals are expected to voluntarily submit to ethics and disciplinary systems because truth and fairness should matter to them.
Media practitioners should care about their reputations and their trustworthiness.
It is embarrassing and shameful for professional media practitioners to knowingly or carelessly give out untruthful information or intentionally tarnish the image of people or mislead the public. It is unforgivable for media practitioners to create or disseminate fake news. Professional media practitioners should never reduce themselves to the levels of casual social media users, who are not bound by professional ethics.
Good media practices and journalistic ethics are taught in journalism schools because of their necessity. One of the most important principles taught is the necessity of giving everyone involved in an issue an opportunity to give their side of the story.
This must be done sincerely and be incorporated in the published story. There is nothing as unprofessional as an intentionally biased story. Another important ethical practice is protection of sources of information.
While there may be no such thing as a completely independent press, media practitioners are still expected to be guided by universal truths and values, and to maintain their professional independence and integrity. This means refusing to take or give bribes to kill or promote certain stories to achieve certain agendas.
Media ethics are about upholding impartiality, objectivity, balance and preserving good taste in the public interest and public decency. Even when serving or pursuing a specific agenda, a media practitioner should always maintain good values, truth and fairness, and comply with the law.
This involves guarding against breaches like invasion of privacy and defamation.
Poor media ethics destroy lives and reputations of people, governments and organisations.
Governments and organisations have risen and fallen at the behest of propaganda and bad media ethics. The media is a powerful and influential public tool. As such, maturity and restraint are of the essence for practitioners.
Used wrongly, the media can be destructive. Used well, it builds and develops.
◆ Miriam Tose Majome is a commissioner of the Zimbabwe Media Commission
